Thursday, January 8, 2009

Le Samourai(1967)



English title: The Godson

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

Country: France

If you are not a fan of the thriller/neo noir genre, definitely watch this film. Still, if you are not a fan of the thriller/neo noir genre, go die.

"Le Samourai" bears hallmark to the fact that even a virtually plotless tale, with almost no dialogues, actions and drama can still make an absolute cracker of a film. Alain Delon mesmerizes us as the methodical, cunning, devoid of almost all human emotions and deadly assassin Jeff Costello. Jeff, indeed qualifies as the finest to have ever graced the screen. Melville with his meticulously measured sense of framing the shots, his absolute lack of hurriedness and direction which is minimalistic to the point of being sparse makes sure that we are in for the ride of our life.

So, just sit back and enjoy this classic. They just don't make them like this anymore.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

La femme Nikita(1997)




English title: Nikita

Director: Luc Besson

Country: France

This is one of those peculiar films which have me in two minds, where I cannot decide whether I like them or I don't.

A drug-addicted and convicted cop-killer is given a second chance at life by the French government. Nikita is trained at a secret government facility to become one of their top agents, a spy, an assassin. She undergoes the transformation very slowly. And when she is ready, she is given a new social identity and let loose on the streets of Paris. She juggles between love and killing foreign ambassadors and such until a mission is screwed up. Big time. Then Nikita reallizes she has paid her dues to the society and decides to run away from everything that is dear to her.

The acting throughout is top-notch. Anne Parillaud captures the different phases of Nikita's life with equal panache. The build-up, the slow transformation, the screw-up, everything is portrayed beautifully. Luc Besson does a terrific job directing the film. But still, somewhere I got a feeling that this film should have been 15 minutes longer. The dilemmas and the revelations of Nikita's life could have been made to a bit more detail. But still, this is a great film to watch and most viewers would find it very satisfying.

And do look out for Jean Reno. He is fabulous in another Leon-esque "cleaner" role. He steals those 5 minutes of screentime from the otherwise brilliant Anne Parillaud.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

La voie lactée(1969)



English title: The milky way

Director: Luis Bunuel

Country: France

Two pilgrims in a modern France set out for Santiago de Compostela in Spain, where the body of St.James is believed to be buried. Throughout their journey they travel back and forth in space and time as they experience historical scenes referenced in different theological texts, all connected by a common notion. That of christianity, of heresy, of the dogma involving catholicism, of the beliefs and of the contradictions. They come across a priest obsessed with transubstantiation(who changes in his mind about it in a minute), a child with unusual powers, Marquis de Sade trying to preach atheism to a young girl in his own sadistic ways, an archbishop encouraging mass orgy in the name of Christ, nuns crucifying another nun, an angel of death and obviously Jesus who refrains from shaving his beard to make Virgin Mary happy.

Made almost 40 years after the famously notorious Un chien Andalou and L'Age Dor, this film still has some elements of Bunuel's blatant rendezvous with the equally, if not more eccentric Salvador Dali and their ideas of surrealist cinema. But on the whole, this film is much mellow, much more subtle with a tangible coherent structure in the narrative quite in the lines of "The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie". The scenes, the dialogues(co- written by Jean-Claude Carriere) reek of Bunuel's infamous sarcasm and black humor. Unlike his earlier take on Christianity, "Simon of the desert", this film is much closer to his latter work "The phantom of the liberty", only much more straightforward. But the dilemmas of his atheist mind, grown up in a completely catholic surrounding, are nevertheless very much visible. He constantly puts forward miracles, beliefs and ventures to counter them in peculiar and very satirical ways. He seems to believe one of his character's words "my freedom is a phantom" and still mocks it to the very end. The film is a collection of some wonderful moments. The best being the one where a priest sitting outside a room explains to a couple inside how the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus. He says that its almost like a sun ray coming through a window. At this very moment we see that at one moment the priest is inside the room, the next he is again outside. This has got to be one of the finest piece of cinematic irony ever.

True, that this film has got a huge number of biblical and theological references. Still for the ignorants such as me, it works completely. Dark, very funny, this film is indeed Bunuel's road trip to blasphemy! :D